


I Know Places

by ThunderStrikesTwice (ThunderDownOnGreenside)



Category: Sengoku Basara
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Confusion, I have Hanbei feels now, KojuHan, M/M, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1335265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderDownOnGreenside/pseuds/ThunderStrikesTwice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's probably because he's afraid that he already knows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Know Places

**Author's Note:**

> For my KojuHan shipping buddies on tumblr! I blame you for everything

Katakura Kojuurou was a smart man, that much he had deduced. Every last thing about him screamed practice and caution, propriety without seeming distant, ferocity without coming across as frightening. The man himself was a carefully struck balance, a neat mass of interconnecting lines all strung together to support one thing and one thing only: his lord.

 

And really, how was that so different from Hanbei's own personal construction? He designed the very workings of his being around his Lord Hideyoshi's goals and ambitions, setting himself up for that purpose and - by this point - that purpose alone. There was nothing else he wanted other than to make sure that his lord's ideals came into final fruition, for what else could he do?

 

...Apparently, it seemed that he could still do plenty, just not in the way that he had anticipated.

 

Takenaka Hanbei was a close-kept man, talking plenty but never really meaning a word of it. Only Hideyoshi deserved to hear the truth, he and few others; everyone else received mixed half-truths and elaborate lies of varying degrees depending on how much information Hanbei deemed appropriate. Such are the negotiations of a strategist, but not usually of a dead man walking.

 

Hanbei was both, but rather than forsaking the lesser part of his being, he used it as a driving force in his endeavors to serve his lord fully. If he was going to die, then so be it; his only regret would be that he had not lived to see the finale of his lord's plan.

 

But it was not meant to be, not any of it. Not his unbreakable strategy, not his lord's new rule, not his little side plot that went from a plan to a gamble to a grave mistake.

 

A plan because Katakura was intelligent, a brilliant asset to any working team. Having him alongside them would be more than just a little boost; it would be a massive advantage, a stunning upset, a more severe blow into the great dragon's armor than even the abduction of his Right Eye. 

 

A gamble because Katakura was too intelligent, too steadfast in his will to serve his lord into death and oblivion. He saw through Hanbei's every word, never once wavering in his resolve and never once believing a single thing that left his mouth. Not the the lies. Not even the half-truths. It was, to say the least, terrifying.

 

And a grave mistake because not only did the plan go horribly awry, but because the man himself became a liability. The man became a problem. The man became a threat. 

 

Yes, mostly to his lord's plan.

 

But also to his heart.

 

He'd thought of everything, every possible outcome, every imaginable setback, every personal shortcoming. He'd planned ahead. He'd made backup plans for his backup plans, second copies of every official transaction, stipulated new chains of command and soldiers and replacements so extensively that the reign would remain smoothly uninterrupted for decades to come. He was not the top strategist for nothing. Lord Hideyoshi did not trust him just because he could. Nothing would stand in Hanbei's way when it came to his plan for his lord's domination.

 

Nothing except himself, that is.

 

And Katakura had seen to that, unintentional as it had been at the time.

 

That endless desire to serve, to support, to protect; it nearly drove Hanbei crazy because it was so absurdly _foolish_. How could someone as intelligent as Katakura be so blinded by duty? It made no sense! The man was a tactician, capable of cutting losses by half with a single, well-executed maneuver and yet he couldn't let go of Masamune, couldn't even seem to fathom it. No matter what Hanbei had said, no matter what he had done...Katakura never bent, never even cracked. The man was a force of nature, and he stood his ground as solidly as any of Lord Hideyoshi's best generals. He downright challenged Hanbei, looked him in the eyes and saw right through every single wall of words that he had built. He had known wis weakness, Hanbei was sure of it.

 

It made him so irrationally _angry_. Here he was, offering him the chance of a lifetime, and he _just wouldn't take it._ He flat-out refused it, refused the plan, and in doing so, refused Hanbei.

 

That was when he realized it. That moment when it shouldn't have hurt him and it did. That moment when he saw it, reached for it, and had it snatched away from him all in one, strained breath. Katakura would never. He was the Right Eye of the Dragon and he would die that way if he had to. It was nothing personal, not yet.

 

But he knew the moment Katakura escaped that he would have hell to pay soon enough. The man would never let him rest once he saw the damage that had been done to his lord and, truly, Hanbei was prepared for it.

 

_(It can't be long now.)_

 

One step, there was rage there, yes - _finally_ something else there directed at him aside from the guarded mask that Katakura had held so close to his countenance. He did not know if the plan would fail, did not know if the whole of his last few years of existence would come crashing down in one fell swoop, but it was beyond him now. There was pain, and then he was falling -

 

And then nothing. A faint breath of air, a fuzzy, sunlit passageway between there and oblivion.

 

He would never see him again.

 

_(It's a fitting punishment for a lying man.)_

 

\-------------------

 

Takenaka Hanbei remains a mystery to many men, those who have fought him included. The few who do know the truth, or at least his infamous half-truths, would rather that they didn't.

 

Maeda Keiji is one of these men. Kojuurou is another.

 

The younger man pours the sake that evening, passing the retainer a cup before draining his own, the familiar burn a better salve than most medicines. Both are quiet, not so much shaken as they are drained, all-too aware of the ways of war and the far-reaching grip of death.

 

"I saw him, you know." Keiji breaks the silence, and Kojuurou doesn't need to ask. He knows.

 

"It doesn't matter. He made a choice and paid for it with his life." The retainer is well aware that Hanbei should not be someone that stays in his mind, but he is. It's almost maddening.

 

"Don't you want to know?" Keiji's tone is a little too accusatory for Kojuurou's liking, and he glares at the younger man, fingers curling into a fist on his leg.

 

"What is there to care for? I know enough." _Too much_ , he almost adds, but clamps down before it can escape.

 

"You haven't forgotten."

 

"It's a little hard to forget."

 

Keiji lets out a gusty sigh, tilting his head back to gaze at the starry sky above. Following, Kojuurou resigns himself to looking up as well, trying and somewhat failing to quell the confusion deep within. It shouldn't be this hard. He has one loyalty, which he had kept - so why does he feel so traitorous? The stars seem to hold no answer, and they gleam omnisciently from far above like pale, unsettling eyes, always uncaring, always distant.

 

_Hanbei._

 

He knows that the man had not died without regrets and he does not want to have any share in that whatsoever, no matter what Keiji tries to tell him.

 

It's probably because he's afraid that he already knows.


End file.
